Anonymous
Birth control and family planning have been a vital but controversial topic for a long time, but even more so since the overturning of Roe vs Wade in 2022. Since women’s choices and rights are being stripped away it begs the question:
Why is contraception a woman’s responsibility in the first place?
Historically, contraception has been used for eugenics and ethnic cleansing. Essentially it was also used to control women’s bodies, just in the opposite direction as the modern day. There are still many places, particularly border control facilities, that use forced sterilization and exploit contraception, but birth control as a whole has mostly a positive connotation now.
However, it is still extremely outdated. Most forms of contraception either are not very effective or have a lot of unwanted side effects, and people with male anatomy only have two options; condoms or a vasectomy.
It is important that men at least share the responsibility of contraception since women bear the full burden of pregnancy and often the majority of labor and time that goes into raising a child.
There is demand for male contraceptive options, but not much funding, and the world is becoming more conservative, putting many scientific discoveries, especially those that are more progressive, at risk. Despite all of these issues, there are a few companies with products in development, two of them being in the final stages of clinical trials. One is an oral pill that stops sperm production, and the other is an injection of gel that prevents sperm transport.